Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional for Monday October 8, 2007

How Can You Trust what You Read on Christian Internet Sites or Hear on the Radio

(Galatians 1:6-12; Acts 8:9-13; 2 Timothy 3:16)

How can you trust what you read on Christian Internet sites, hear on
Christian radio, or see on Christian television. Even more important, how
can trust you what church to go to? Every single day, we are inundated here
at Liveprayer with emails from people who are confused and misled because of
things they have read on Christian websites. There are currently over a
million websites that claim to be "Christian." Along this same line, we also
deal every day with people who email us with questions about something they
heard on Christian radio or saw on Christian television. Most alarming,
however, are the emails we get daily from people confused because of what
they were told at a church they went to.

From the very beginning of the church in the Book of Acts, heresy was a
problem. Every time I read the passage about Simon the Sorcerer in Acts
Chapter 8, I can't help but to think of many of the people you see on TV
today representing Christ. Paul was constantly dealing with those who were
preaching "another gospel," a perversion of the Truth. Writings in
contradiction to the Scriptures were very prominent even at the time the
books of the New Testament were being written. Apostate churches, churches
that operated in rebellion to God's Word have been part of the scene since
the church was birthed right after the death and resurrection of Jesus. So
these are not new issues the church has had to contend with.

Let me give you some basic rules to try and help you so that you are not
deceived by what you read on "Christian websites," watch and hear on
Christian TV and radio, and so that you are not going to a church that is
operating in rebellion to God despite their claim to be "Christian." When it
comes to Christian websites, you are dealing with a very dangerous world for
the simple fact that there are no standards, no controls, no restrictions on
content. For less than $100 you can create a website and for $20 a month
have it hosted. This allows basically anyone to have a website on the
Internet. I don't think I need to say much more for you to see how
incredibly dangerous this is when the reality is, virtually anyone can have
a "Christian" website that says anything you can dream up..AND THEY DO!

I look for several things when I am visiting a Christian website I am not
familiar with. The first thing is who put the website up? What is the name
of the person or organization responsible for the content. Second, if I
don't know that person or organization, I want to find out who they are.
What is their Statement of Faith? Lastly and most critical, does what they
say line up with God's Word? (Here we are, back at that critical place we
come to often when it is so important for you to read and study God's Word
so that you can discern when you are being told something that is simply not
in the Bible or a perversion of what God says in His Word.) If I can't find
out who the person or organization is, what their Statement of Faith is, I
refuse to even read what is on their site. A legitimate Christian website is
going to be very up front about who they are and what they believe.

When it comes to Christian radio and television, it is not quite as easy
since you are dealing with people who are proficient in speaking as well as
in eliciting your emotions, making it much more difficult to discern those
who are preaching a false message. Since they all use the Bible, it makes it
very difficult to discern error when they take Scripture out of context or
pervert it. That is why when it comes to anyone on radio or television,
unless I know who they are, where they stand doctrinally, I won't even allow
myself to listen to them. Again, it goes back to knowing WHO the person is
that is feeding you spiritually. Not too many people are going to let a
stranger come up to you on the street and give you something to eat they
have cooked. If you are that cautious about what you eat when it comes to
food for your body, you should be even more cautious when it comes to the
spiritual food for your eternal soul!

Without a doubt, what drives me crazy every day are so called "churches"
that are no more a church than a mosque is! Just 50 years ago, you could go
to any Christian church regardless of their denomination, and even though
there might be some difference in some of the doctrinal issues we have used
to divide ourselves, the bottom line was that they still preached and taught
from one source...THE BIBLE! In most churches today, you are more likely to
hear passages from New Age garbage like "The Secret," or a book of poems, or
about any book OTHER THAN God's Word. In some churches, you have to make
sure you are not in the local comedy club as you are fed a monologue of
jokes. The fact is that you will rarely go to a church where you will
actually hear about sin and be brought under conviction about anything,
since the goal is not to help you grow spiritually, but entertain you and
all at all costs, NOT OFFEND YOU OR ANYONE!

Of course, you are very likely to go to a church and sit next to a man and
woman living together outside of the bonds of marriage who don't even know
that is not God's plan, or next to Thomas and Mark who are in a "loving
relationship," or a local attorney who is married and having an affair
everyone knows about with the cute girl in the third row of the choir. You
are more likely to get a free toaster for coming to church than a Bible. You
won't hear about how to save souls, but you will hear about the next "Vegas
night" with all the proceeds going to the churches school. You will hear
stories of reaching people in some far off country, but never hear about any
efforts to reach the people who live within a block of the church. You will
be challenged to give to build a new building, but not save the lost. You
are more likely to see a skit or creative dance number than hear how to be a
Godly mother or father. One thing I guarantee you that you will NOT hear on
Sunday in 90% of the so called churches out there, and that is in invitation
to know Jesus as your Savior!

It is easy to warn people about the cults like the Mormons, the Jehovah's
Witnesses, the Unitarians, who try to masquerade as "Christian churches."
The sad reality of the year 2007 is that I am just as leery of most churches
who claim to be followers of Christ! Churches that openly promote and
glorify gross sin like homosexuality. Churches that support a woman's choice
to kill her unborn baby. Here is the bottom line litmus test for any pastor
and church... God's Word. If any pastor does not believe that the Bible is
God's inspired, inerrant Word, representing Absolute Truth and our final
authority in all matters, that is a man to RUN FROM! Any church that is not
preaching and teaching the Bible, is a church to RUN FROM! There is only ONE
TRUTH, the Bible. There is only ONE BOOK that can transform the hearts and
lives of men, the Bible! The job of the church is to save the lost,
spiritually feed the congregation from God's Word, provide a community of
faith for Believers, and train and equip the saints to serve the Lord!

I love you and care about you so much. The Internet is such a great tool to
reach people for Christ. I thank God daily for this incredible technology
that we have been able to use to reach tens of millions of people all over
the world over these past 8 years, impact millions of lives for Christ, and
see over 190,000 people we know of rerouted from a conveyor belt to hell to
a mansion in Glory! However, it is also a very dangerous place since there
are no restrictions or guidelines and anyone with a few dollars can put up
whatever content they want, leading unsuspecting people astray with false
theology and bad doctrine. That is why it is critical to know who is putting
up the website what they really believe, and measure all they say thru the
filter of God's Word.

You should use the same guidelines for Christian radio and television. KNOW
WHO THE PERSON IS who is feeding you spiritually. Check them out before you
listen to them. Most of the people you will see and hear have a great gift
to communicate, they know how to play on your emotions, and they can be very
deceiving in the things they say. When it comes to where you go to church,
the pastor is critical since he is the one God called to lead that
congregation. He MUST believe the Bible to be God's inspired and inerrant
Word and needs to preach and teach from that Book. There is no other source
of Truth, and there are no other words that can transform your heart and
life for this life and all eternity.

NEVER FORGET THIS. No matter how beautiful a website may be, no matter how
charismatic a man or woman on radio or television may be, no mater how
gorgeous and state-of-the-art a church may be, they all mean NOTHING unless
they are bringing you the Truth of God's Word. Without the Truth of the
Bible, a website can do nothing! As clever as many of these men and women in
Christian media think they are, they only have one message that means
anything, the Gospel. A true church can't offer you anything of eternal
significance other than to feed you with God's Word.

In the end, there is only one way you can trust what you read on Christian
Internet sites, hear on radio, or see on television, and what church to go
to...that is if they are presenting the Truth of the Bible!

About LivePrayer

LivePrayer was founded for the sole purpose of having a site on the internet where people can go 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for prayer. The entire core mission of LivePrayer is to give those who are hurting... HOPE.